Book Description
Why do some democratic governments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention from policymakers and civic activists in America and around the world, Robert Putnam and his collaborators offer empirical evidence for the importance of "civic community" in developing successful institutions. Their focus is on a unique experiment begun in 1970 when Italy created new governments for each of its regions. After spending two decades analyzing the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, they reveal patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity.
Customer Reviews:
"Civic-ness" and Democracy.......2006-08-31
In the early 1970s, political power was decentralized in Italy. The power once held by the central government in Rome was reallocated to the newly created regional governments. Constitutionally, the regions possessed similar political institutions. However, the regions varied socially, economically and in political context. Putnam, seeing a ready laboratory for social science, chose to study the role of environmental factors on institutional performance in the new regional governments. Institutions serve as Putnam's independent variable, while a number of environmental factors act as the dependent variables. As such three main research questions emerged; 1) how does institutional change affect identity, power, and strategy of the regional political actors, 2) how is institutional performance a function of history, and lastly 3) which features of social context most powerfully affect institutional performance (8).
In examining the institutional impacts on identity, power, and strategy of regional politicos, Putnam builds upon the "new institutionalism" proposed by March and Olsen. According to the new institutional paradigm: intuitions reshape the identities of political actors, redistribute political power, and instill new norms for political behavior. Putnam argues that the identity of regional political actors has evolved to create a system in which actors experience an "ideological depolarization." Party identity has become less extreme and regional politicians have taken a more centrist stance than their counterparts in the central government. This has lead regional politicos to develop a more accepting attitude of rival parties and a system of consensus in which inter-party conflict has been replaced by cooperation. The author argues that such changes in political identity occurred due to the institutional structure of the regional governments. As regional institutions became more developed, regional actors saw loyalty to regional constituents as more important than party loyalty. As such, pragmatism replaced ideology in regional politics (39).
In addition, the institutional changes reshaped the distribution of political resources. Putnam says that once institutions are in place, they create their own momentum. With political actors gaining more autonomy from the central authority, regional leaders began to form coalitions and demand greater recognition and power from the government in Rome. As such, the distribution of political power was changed so that an increasing amount of control fell to the regional government.
Also, the changes in institutional structures at the regional level caused changes to the political norms previously held by the regional constituents. First, because of the decentralization of power, the constituents and regional politicos are closer in proximity, which made regional politics, "hands-on, face-to-face." Politicians became more administratively motivated than politically motivated. In addition to the close proximity, regional actors adopted more democratic sentiments and less elitist views of governing. They became more concerned with regional issues than vying for political power at the national level. Such a relationship has lead to an increased legitimacy for regional governments. Still, the efficiency of the Italian regional governments is relative. Putnam writes, "Popular legitimacy of new institutions, even successful ones, grows only gradually" (60).
In addition to examining the impact of institutions on political actors, Putnam seeks to examine the relative performance of the new regional institutions. In order to test institutional performance, Putnam looks at two areas, responsiveness to constituents and the efficiency in conducting the business of the public. The author divides the indicators of institutional effectiveness into three broad spheres: policy process, policy pronouncement, and policy implementation. Policy process examines the institution's decision making process. Policy pronouncement examines the government's ability to recognize social needs and offer solutions, and policy implementation serves as a measure of the ability of the regional government to implement policy in the major sectors of activity. In Putnam's study it was unsurprisingly discovered that effectiveness and responsiveness as measures of institutional performance are closely related. In measuring performance, Putnam discovered that although institutionally the same, some regions performed better than others. Putnam attempts to explain the differences between institutional performance through an examination of regional socioeconomic modernity (economic growth following the industrial revolution) and civic community ("civic involvement and social solidarity") 83. Although Putnam readily admits that those regions which had a "head start" economically, most notably those regions in the north, are likely to have more efficient institutional performance than their southern neighbors, socioeconomic factors may not explain the whole story of performance difference. Rather, Putnam concentrates on the development of civic community as a catalyst for successful institutional performance.
A healthy civic community, according to Putnam, is a driving force behind a successful democratic government. In his description, Putnam sees four main themes that accompany civic community: civic engagement, political equality, solidarity/trust/tolerance, and associations. Civic engagement includes active political participation by members of the community. Members of the civic group must be interested in public affairs and be willing to work towards better the community as a whole. Political equality also is imperative for a healthy civic society. According to Putnam, a civic society with political equality is characterized by a horizontal power structure, one in which all parties are equal, as opposed to a hierarchical structure in which patronage and dependency are prominent. In the realm of individual and group interactions in the civic society, actors must have a sense of solidarity, trust, and tolerance. The author readily admits that the civic community will be far from conflict-free, but so long as participating parties maintain the premises of solidarity, trust, and tolerance, negotiation and comprise will occur, hopefully promoting a utilitarian sense of good.
Putnam calls the aggregation of civic engagement, political equality, solidarity/trust, and associations, and region's "civic-ness." Regions with a high level of "civic-ness" are less apt to have constituents who use a preference voting ballot, are more likely to turnout for referendum voting, read newspapers, and have a large variety of civic associations. In addition, Putnam discovers that constituents in regions with a higher level of civic-ness experience a greater trust and contentment with their governments. The author finds that those living in a region with a strong civic group have a greater trust in their elected officials, feel a good deal of participation in the political process, and that political leaders are genuinely concerned with the well-being of the populous. As such, Putnam argues that regions with greater "civic-ness" have a better quality of democracy than their less civic counterparts.
In developing a sense of "civic-ness" the problem of collective action may emerge. Putnam proposes a number of solutions to the collective action problem. First, Putnam builds upon the "soft" solutions proposed by Robert Bates. Such solutions include community development and creating a sense of trust between citizens. Putnam proposes increasing community development through the promotion of human capital development. The author argues that investments in social capital help alleviate collective action problems. Like monetary capital, once an investment in human capital occurs, social capital will grow exponentially. He writes, "Other sources of social capital, too, such as social norms and networks increase with use and diminish with disuse" (170). As such, in order for a sense of "civic-ness," and subsequently, effective and equitable institutions to emerge, first an investment of social capital must occur.
A Classic Text of Modern Political Science.......2005-11-21
Robert Putnam's work has become a Political Science classic. His work is part of new area of research -- civic participation. During the past decade, this area has exploded from obscurity twenty years ago to being one of the most popular fields today. Putnam's works have had a profound impact on many other areas in the Political Science world, from local governance to international political theory. Regardless of whether you agree with his theories, if you are at all interested in Political Science, it is a must read. Moreover, either "Marking Democracy Work" or "Bowling Alone" are becoming standard texts used in most 100 & 200 level undergraduate courses.
trite conclusions, flawed methodology... but engaging prose.......2002-04-04
It's unfortunate that given the opportunity and resources to study the birth and development of regional government in Italy over the course of twenty years, the best conclusions Putnam was able to draw from his observations are hackneyed paraphrases from Tocqueville. Most of his most careful fieldwork yields results that are stultifyingly obvious; and it's hard not to think that his questions and indicators were not deliberately chosen to demonstrate foregone conclusions. Probably most irritating to me is Putnam's irresponsible use of history as a tool for proving continuities that are largely imaginary.
That said, Making Democracy Work is not a boring read, and its flaws at least encourage the reader to contemplate the million ways the book and the study it describes might have been better.
Beginning in 1977, Putnam and his colleagues studied the performance and reception of the 15 regional governments that had been first established in 1970. Given pre-existing disparities among the regions -- economic, cultural, political, demographic, nevermind linguistic and geographic -- it's little surprise that the researchers found that not all the regional governments developed the same way. While he found that the 'institutional socialization' of the new parliamentary bodies had a consistently positive effect on the regional politicians' growing professionalism and willingness to explore constructive compromises with ideological opponents, the governments were not uniformly effective or responsive, nor were their constituents uniformly happy with their efforts.
Ruling out economics as a determining factor in these disparities (through a series of statistical negotiations that show an appalling lack of understanding about basic economics), and drawing heavily from Tocqueville's ideas about the mystical cultural underpinnings for successful democracy, Putnam constructed a 'civic community index' -- a list of indicators including newspaper readership, membership in associations, and what might be called 'enlightened' (abstract, issue-oriented) versus 'parochial' (personal) voting patterns. Again, it's small surprise that he finds a close correlation between the regions' scores on this index and their constituents' relative satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their regional governments.
Trying to explain why this might be so, Putnam then launches into a heavily simplified -- at times almost fanciful -- exposition of 1,000 years of Italian history in which somehow economic development patterns, demographics, religious institutions, and systems of political organization experience enormous changes while cultural traditions of 'civic-ness' remain more or less consistent, wonderfully cohering to the boundaries described by the modern regions and their scores on Putnam's civic community index. He concludes that habits die hard -- whether these be 'good' habits of mutual trust and social reciprocity or 'bad' habits of atomistic self-interest and traditionalist dependency -- and that the effects of institutional change on social and cultural norms is gradual, perhaps so gradual as to be almost imperceptible within a single lifetime.
Stopping just a hair's breadth short of claiming that culture determines economic and political success in the modern world, Putnam does the next worst thing, which is to give credit for present-day disparities in wealth and power to 'historical trends' in cultural development that don't bear close examination by anyone even slightly familiar with Italian history. For example, given Putnam's assessment of the disparity between North/Central Italy (very civic) and the 'amoral' South (terribly un-civic), the first with its innovative and republican cultural of mutual trust and democracy, the second with its stubbornly backward vertical social hierarchies, one could be forgiven for imagining that the South must certainly have been the base of support for Italian fascism in the 30s and 40s -- while in fact it was the gloriously civic-minded North that provided Mussolini with his most consistent support.
On the surface, there's nothing wrong with Putnam's basic political belief -- that democracy is strongest when it's built on a foundation of social reciprocity and trust, civic engagement, etc. My criticism shouldn't be taken as a condemnation of efforts to build or strengthen civil society, or to promote participatory democracy -- far from it! The trouble with Putnam's argument is its methodology, and the pernicious cultural determinism that lurks behind his rhetoric about path-dependent history.
It's NOT the economy, stupid . . . it's civics!.......2001-02-23
The central concept of Putnam's study is "institutions," but he frames these institutions as both an independent and a dependent variable. Positing that institutions shape politics, but institutions themselves are shaped by history, Putnam is able to explain both the causes and the effects of political institutions among Italian regions. The "effects" portion of his study is the lesser of the two in importance; basically, the fact that all Italian regions got identical institutions in 1970, and yet the performance of these institutions varied widely across Italy, sheds much doubt on the questionable theory that formal institutional design itself is a primary determinant of government performance (although most Italians North and South agree that the new regional governments have been a change for the better).
But if institutional design has limited explanatory power, then what other variable can better account for institutional performance? This is the more important half of Putnam's work, for it is where he shows that "social context and history profoundly condition the effectiveness of institutions" (182), by unveiling his more controversial and powerful independent variable: civic culture. What is civic culture? It goes by many names and concepts for Putnam (civic traditions, political culture, civic involvement, social capital, republican virtues) but in its most basic form it is "norms of reciprocity and networks of civic engagement" (167).
In contrast with the existence of this civic culture in Northern Italy, identified as having a millenium-long pedigree due to the North's highly decentralized political history, Putnam uses the concept of "amoral familism" to characterize the civic culture (or lack thereof) in Southern Italy. Amoral familism implies that reciprocity and engagement are limited to family relations and to vertical networks of hierarchical power alone (in contrast to more participatory and egalitarian horizontal networks in the North), and that all other social relations, as a consequence, are characterized by material self-interest. Tracing the evolution of amoral familism to Southern Italy's monarchical past, Putnam finds that Southern regions have been doomed to institutional failure by their civic legacy, just as the North was guaranteed a relatively easy success by theirs. Putnam summarizes these two divergent starting points as "vicious and virtuous circles that have led to contrasting, path-dependent social equilibria" (180).
To prove this main causal argument, that civic culture determines institutional performance, one would obviously need adequate measures for both civic culture and institutional performance. As evidence of institutional performance, or "good government," Putnam chooses twelve indicators: cabinet stability, budget promptness, statistical and information services, reform legislation, legislative innovation, day care centers, family clinics, industrial policy instruments, agricultural spending capacity, local health unit expenditures, housing and urban development and bureaucratic responsiveness. Putnam then further evaluates the validity of these indicators by surveying both elite and public opinions regarding the institutional performance of their regional governments, to see if the public's perception matches his own.
For evidence of his primary independent variable, civic culture, Putnam proposes four indicators to put his finger on this elusive entity. These indicators are: voluntary associations, newspaper readership, referenda turnout, and (lack of) personalized preference voting. Putnam also correlates these "objective" measures with more opinion-based survey indicators of civic culture.
Most of Putnam's evidence coheres quite well with his causal argument. His quantitative indicators of both institutional performance and civic culture are relatively broad and accurate, with the minor exceptions that would be inherent in any attempt to quantify a complex, multi-dimensional concept like "civic culture". The strong statistical correlations identified by the measurement of his indicators, backed up with corresponding qualitative evidence (some, but not all of it historical), can probably be taken as reliable evidence of a meaningful causal relationship (in Italy) between civic culture and institutional performance. Perhaps the most striking implication of these results is that the ubiquitous relationship between economic development and democracy is actually shown to "disappear" in a statistical sense. In other words, Putnam has controlled for economic development and found that civic culture predicts both democracy and economic development, perhaps even better than economic development itself. This finding, if confirmed in other studies and settings, would obviously topple quite a few of the canonical theories in comparative politics.
Intriguing Thesis - with reservations.......1998-11-08
Putnam's thesis on the importance of social capital in engendering the successful functioning of democracy is an intriguing idea that merits serious reflection in our context today. His study of the community-organizations in Italy, and their effects on the effective workings of democracy on a regional and national level, highlight the importance of civic organizations and their ability to inculcate in their members a sense of civic duty - which consequently leads to a vibrant democracy. This book is perhaps especially fitting in the American context today in light of declining interest in politics, diminishing belief in the efficacy of governing institutions in solving problems, and the general ethos of apathy and frustration felt around the nation in the realm of democracy (something that the most recent election's low voter turnout indicated). Although the study is interesting, the idea is perhaps a little less useful in the pragmatic sense; one could run into the question of a chicken-and-egg scenario where there is a debate between which came first: vibrant democracy or civic organizations. Regardless, the book is one of the best in its subject area and a recommended read for any student interested in such issues.
Book Description
From the publishers of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World
"A Tourist's Best Friend!"
--Chicago Sun-Times
"Indispensable"
--The New York Times
Five Great Features and Benefits offered ONLY by The Unofficial Guide:
* A complete planner to Florence, Rome, and the highlights of Tuscany, Umbria, Latium, and the Marches
* Honest advice that lets you feel safe and comfortable in the heart of Italy--whether you speak Italian or not
* Insider tips on finding the most charming hotels for the best price
* Hundreds of restaurants reviewed and ranked for quality and value
* A complete guide to the region's cultural and historic sights--with helpful hints for making the most of your time
Sample Rating
The Leaning Tower (Torre Pendente)
Appeal by Age Preschool Grade school Teens Young adults Over 30 Seniors
Campo dei Miracoli; # 050 560 547; www.torre.duomo.pisa.it
Type of attraction Icon of Pisa. Admission ¿15 at ticket office; ¿17 for online bookings. Hours Daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., guided tours every 40 minutes. When to go This site is always mobbed. Reservations Required. Special comments Local superstition has it that seeing the Leaning Tower before an exam will guarantee a bad grade. How much time to allow 30 minutes. Author's rating
Customer Reviews:
Extremely useful!.......2007-10-04
My husband and I used this guide on our first trip to Rome and Florence. It was well written and well organized. The book contained some great tips about getting around using public transportation in both cities; the included maps were helpful.
Sights were rated based not only upon how interesting they were but on what age groups would be interested in them, from children through senior citizens. The restaurant reviews and recommendations were right on target. Everything from "inexpensive" to "very expensive" eateries were included.
This book was obviously written using input from a variety of real travelers, not some "high-brow" travel critic! The book included information on many smaller towns, too. The only drawback was that the book was a bit on the large side. It fit into a backpack but with the other things we commonly carried, (water bottles, camera), it was a little cumbersome. However, this book contains so much useful information, it was worth taking along! Read it before you go to Italy and take it on your travels. We were glad we did!
Good, Practical guide.......2007-07-25
This guide was very practical and useful in comparison to the guidebook my friend had with her. Hers had a lot of pictures but less practical information. We tried several of the restaurant recommendations - one in particular in Florence was one of our best meals and one of the best prices - half of the cost of any other meal on the trip. One recommended wine shop though was no longer open.
I was also dissappointed that the information on the galleries was not specific about how difficult it can be to get in on certain days - for example, The Uffizzi in Florence is quite difficult to get in to without an advance reservation on a Tuesday because it is closed on Mondays. This was the day I had planned to go and the line was 5 hours long just to attempt to get in.
I think it would also be helpful to include some information on the "after hours" touring options. While pricey, several of the Galleries, including the Vatican Museum have services that can provide a tour after the normal hours of the Museum when all the crowds are gone. This would likely be well worth it if you can afford the option or want to treat yourself to one special tour.
Overall I thought this was a good guidebook and easy to use.
Fun and Well-Rounded.......2007-01-13
I was pleasantly surprised with this book.
The way the attractions are organized, with star ratings for different age groups (apparently culled from tourists at each site) as well as the author's rating (sometimes the same, sometimes better or worse) helped give a better picture of each option, since not everyone likes the same thing.
The mini-history lesson for each town is also a bonus in my opinion. I really enjoy knowing a little background on where I'm going, as I feel it leads to better understanding of the things I see & people I encounter.
It is a little heavy on Rome & Florence, but is also sure to include some really unique spots.
I would definitely buy another one of these guides, but be sure to check the publication date to be sure it's within the last couple of years.
I don't rely on guide books too heavily for lodging or restaurants (I use internet research for that) since even a most recent edition takes some time to come to press and things change. I generally see that section of guide books as a starting point or fall back if needed but not as the primary source. Also, various attractions can vary widely in hours (sometimes they just change or are closed/limited due to constant renovations - just the nature of things in Italy), so be sure to double check directly with the attraction (by phone, e-mail, or on the website) before you go to avoid unexpected dissapointments.
It is also well written (although the editors missed some major typos in page headings and the like, but nothing that detracts from the book) - engaging but still informative, not fluff or personal opinion.
Details, Details..........2006-08-30
This book details each and every inch of Rome and Tuscany. In addition to this, the book was easy to read and follow, complete with excellent hotel, eating and shopping suggestions. I would reccomend it to anyone traveling to Italy!
Awesome, especially restaurant picks.......2006-08-16
My husband and I took this book on our honeymoon to Rome and Florence. We especially enjoyed the restaurant recommendations..every place we tried was excellent. Some things were a bit exaggerated, for example, the book indicated that we needed to be dressed in evening wear at some places, but the other patrons were wearing jeans! Also, it said that English was not spoken at some of the restaurants, but we found that all menus had an English translations and servers were mostly able to communicate with us.
We found the information regarding sightseeing to helpful and accurate as well.
Book Description
Elegance meets culinary tradition at Spiaggia, Chicago's premier Italian restaurant, where Chef Tony Mantuano and restauranteur Larry Levy have been astounding celebrities, foodies, and renowned chefs and winemakers for more than two decades. For the first time they share the secrets behind their award-winning Italian cuisine. From antipasti to primi courses such as Crescenza Cheese-filled Ravioletto with Parmesan Truffle Butter, to secondi main courses such as Grilled Veal Chop with Crispy Sweetbreads and Swiss Chard Timbale, these recipes explore Italian traditions and build on them in a way that's completely contemporary. This gorgeous reference makes the perfect gift for anyone passionate about the indulgences of Italian cooking.
Customer Reviews:
Another Pretty Italian Restaurant Cookbook. Too Expensive.......2005-01-14
`The Spiaggia Cookbook' by Tony and Cathy Mantuano is a Chicago Italian restaurant cookbook that aspires to be more than a souvenir of one's visit to the restaurant. The challenge to the reviewer is against what standard do we measure this book. The two which come to mind are Chicago's `Tru' by Rick Tramonto and `the Babbo Cookbook' by premier New York Italian chef / restaurateur Mario Batali.
For starters, the Spiaggia book begins with Foreword by Chicago real estate and restaurant developer, Larry Levy who touts the Mantuanos for filling Levy's prime real estate at the head of Chicago's Golden Mile in a big new building with a classy restaurant which brings to life the Italian cuisine on the shores of Lake Michigan. This is only fitting, as `spiaggia' means `shore' in Italian. Mr. Levy celebrates the number of culinary celebrities that have dined at Spiaggia and found it good. Tony Mantuano follows with an introduction that recounts the year he and his wife spent in Italy staging at several restorantes and trattoria in preparation for the opening of Spaggia. The Intro also sings the usual hymns to fresh ingredients and authentic Italian dishes. I confess this kind of literary glad-handing never really impresses me except that it sets the stage for what the author is attempting to do with their book.
Let me get the comparison to `Tru' out of the way quickly by saying that I would never recommend the `Tru' cookbook to anyone looking for a collection of handy recipes, as it is high end French technique with a huge dollop of Charlie Trotter / Thomas Keller innovation thrown in. In fact, I rate Tramonto's communicating his techniques superior to fellow Chicago chef Trotter. The Mantuanos, on the other hand do stay true to classic Italian techniques, if not necessarily Italian dishes. Therefore, for a lower price, `Tru' gives more high faluttin' technique for the buck, if that is what you want.
`The Spiaggia Cookbook' and Batali's `The Babbo Cookbook' are exactly the same list price; however, Mario gives us 300 pages of recipes from the beginning of the antipasto chapter to the end of the Dolci chapter. The Mantuanos give us 150 pages for the same price. With regard to how `Italian' the recipes may be, I find it very odd to find recipes in `The Spiaggia Cookbook' calling for Japanese Kobe beef, Russian sevruga caviar, and French foie gras. In contrast, Mario strictly follows his philosophy of giving us recipes exactly as done in his restaurant, with true Italian ingredients, and, ingredients which are practically local to New York such as fiddlehead ferns from New England and New Orleans shrimp.
`The Spiaggia Cookbook' makes much fuss over their Italian wines and local wines based on Italian grapes, yet the book gives us nothing on matching wines to the dishes. Mario also gives us no wine pairings, but then he doesn't run on about it in his book. Both books are organized according to the traditional courses in the Italian meal. These are antipasti, Primi (pasta, risotto, and soup), Secondi (main courses), Formaggi (cheese), and Dolci (desserts). I give Spiaggia extra points for giving us the titles of all their recipes in the Table of Contents at the front of the book. Regarding the layout of the recipe writing, I much prefer the Babbo style with numbered steps. It is simply much easier to follow by remembering you have finished step 4 and need to go on to step 5 rather than balancing a ruler on the page to mark your place in the text. I also found the conceit of two circles to punctuate some important sentences as a waste of printing costs. They distract more than they highlight.
As far as the actual technique in the two books, I personally prefer Mario's recipes as I simply thing they are more genuinely Italian. As neither I nor Ruth Reichl can seem to get a reservation at Babbo, I like the idea that I can reproduce their recipes, but as an amateur student of Italian cuisine, I like it more that I can get real Italian and Italian style cooking in Babbo while I do not trust that the Mantuanos are giving us the genuine article. Spiaggia and Babbo have very few recipes in common, but both give us the recipe for potato gnocchi. Spiaggia roasts their potatoes and mixes potatoes, egg, and flour in a bowl. Babbo boils the potatoes with skins on and mixes potato, flour, and egg using the classic `well' or `fountain' method. As most Italians historically did not have ovens, I tend to believe the Babbo method is closer to the traditional method. This consideration may mean little to people who have eaten at Spiaggia and were impressed by the experience. But, for those of us who buy cookbooks and have no plans to be in Chicago in the near future, I think that for the price, this book does not measure up to the five star standard in Italian restaurant cookbooks.
This is a good book, but there are better high-end Italian restaurant cookbooks to be had. I agree with other reviewers who praise the look of the book, but it is simply not 'best in show'.
Beautiful Book / New Ideas for Italian Cooking.......2005-01-11
This book has absolutely gorgeous photography and has simply delicious recipes. Great source guide for hard to find product.
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BOOK!!!.......2004-12-29
I was given this book as a gift for the holidays. I was immediately impressed with the photos, which made my mouth water. Chef Mantuano recipes make me want to eat at Spiaggia more often. This book will make a terrific gift or a perfect way to treat yourself if you enjoy food.
Book Description
The eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries saw a great transformation in the political, cultural and economic life of the Italian peninsula, marked by the rise of the autonomous city-states in the north and centre, the expansion of international trade, and the creation of a wealthy southern kingdom which reached the peak of its power in this period, before fragmenting in two in the late thirteenth century. It was also the period in which the various dialects that we now call the Italian language came into being, and in which Tuscan in particular became the vehicle for impressive literary innovation. Presenting a rounded view of Italy at a time when it was the most dynamic region in western Europe, this book looks at Italy in its entirety, rather than concentrating largely on the north, as previous studies have done. It also includes expert coverage of topics such as the family and the Jewish, Greek, and Muslim minority communities, in addition to its coverage of developments in the cities, rural life, trade, the monarchy, papal Italy, and language and culture.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent history for the armchair scholar.......2007-06-03
A history of medieval Italy as a whole can be hard to find -- there are numerous histories of the northern city-states, several of the papacy, and even a few of the Norman and Angevin south. Histories of the whole, including Sardinia, are harder to find. This book draws together the major regions of Italy, and discusses language, culture, and the impact of Greeks, Muslims, and Jews on its culture.
I was first impressed by the readability of this book. It is far to easy to find medieval histories that are stuffed with jargon and statistics until the reader's eye glaze over. The essays in this work make their points succinctly and comprehensibly.
My chief regret was that the book was not a bit longer, so that it could better develop some of its essays. The map section at the end might have been better placed at the beginning, where it would be less-likely overlooked.
This book is aimed at a reader with at least passing familiarity with medieval history and Italian history and geography. Various authors comment on their predecessors, discussing how they feel earlier authors erred in their approach to this difficult subject. There's a useful recommended reading section at the end for those interested in pursuing individual topics further.
Book Description
After Raphael is the first overview of sixteenth-century Italian painting to be published in over thirty years. Reevaluating the paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, Pontormo, Bronzino and their followers in the light of recent research, Marcia Hall offers a new interpretation for the stylistic shifts that occurred after 1520. By taking into account the social, cultural, political, theological, and patronage issues that affected taste and stylistic developments, she demonstrates how the revival of interest in antique Roman sculpture relief affected Mannerist painters. She also examines the repercussions of the Reformation, which changed forever the Church's view of the function of images.
Customer Reviews:
Painters and Popes and Protestants, oh my!.......2001-12-17
AFTER RAPHAEL, anyone trying to sort out what happened in art before, during and following his short life and successful career have had to look at the works that he designed and the many paintings that his workshop carried out and finished the way that he wanted them done: as my sculptress mother used to say, and my artist sister still says, the questions that were asked before him were there, along with his answers, in all his works; also, the questions that artists raised and answered after he was long gone were there too, along with his answers. His death in 1520, or that of Pope Leo X's a year later, ended the High Renaissance Classic style of centralized compositions putting the focus and the most important action in the same place, as in Leonardo da Vinci's "Battle of Anghiari" for the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and unreal poses with lots of ornamentation, as in what Michelangelo did for the Sistine Chapel. What with influence and money falling into hands outside the Roman Catholic Church, the popes needed to draw on something that would pull Italy together and keep fighting weight as art definers and supporters against middle-class citizens, known as burghers, and wealthy families, such as the Medici. Pope Julius II had pulled out a common history under the Roman Empire: a classical art style based on ancient Roman relief sculpture became popular what with admiration for the "Apollo Belvedere" and the recently uncovered "Laocoon" marble statue, until then known from the praise passed down through history by the writings of Pliny the Elder; beautiful examples were Pinturicchio's pioneer trying the domus aurea style in Nero's palace colors, gilding and stuccoes out on the Bufalini Chapel at Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Raphael's painting of the Stanza della Segnatura private library, and leading ancient history painter Ripanda's stone-like monochrome relieflike paintings. Particularly the engravers had taken up a related relieflike style beautifully expressed in Polidoro da Caravaggio's now lost facade decorations all'antica, Michelangelo's "Battle of Cascina," and Raphael's "Battle of the Milvian Bridge" design. The Mannerist style knew almost no limits in ornamenting paintings filled with figures and tried to ape antique sculpture, as in Cardinal Ricci's chapel, where Francesco Salviati painted David as independent, merciful and unpretentious in the midst of all sorts of illusions, what with parts of the frescoes looking like they were really jutting out from the walls as part of the architecture, and of all sorts of ornamentation, such as framed paintings, garlands, scrolls, and vases; and as in the Altoviti family chapel altarpiece by Giorgio Vasari, who held true to style by having the flat light strike the foremost parts of the figures. Not surprisingly a Counter-Mannerist style showed up among younger artists influenced by Michelangelo's frescoes for the Pauline Chapel and his later Pietas, but without the painter-sculptor's view of clumsily and gracelessly sinful people in need of redemption and with the noble, sincerely devout figurings from Sebastiano del Piombo. What with Protestant criticism of image-making as breaking God's Commandments, a Counter-Reformation style slowed the pace of ornamentation in painting, and the Council of Trent came up with standards for sacred art, acceptable to the Roman Catholic Church, coming out against what was relieflike and unreal, and competitive with the Reformation. Mature Late Mannerists pulling out the stops on ornamentation included second rank artist Jacopino, with his Oratory of San Giovanni decollato trailblazing the first use of relieflike style in sacred art, and Taddeo Zuccaro. So author Marcia Hall has come up with a beautifully illustrated, carefully written and clearly organized book: I am unaware of books that add to her thorough work; her magnificent book leaves readers with a very personal reaction, in that we can choose whichever artist or style that we want to look into individually and separately, because she has left us better informed on them all
Book Description
Nicolas Belfrage concludes his two-volume tour of Italian wine with a look at the outstanding varieties from Tuscany to the south.
In Barolo to Valpolicella, Belfrage demystified northern Italian viticulture, discussing dozens of wines ranging from the highest-quality vintages to affordable selections that can be enjoyed every day. Now, with Brunello to Zibibbo, he considers the wines from Tuscany to the south, again concentrating on the regions’ indigenous vines and the unique grapes that make Italy’s wines so exceptional.
There’s extensive coverage of the vines and wines of Tuscany, as well as an assessment of the emerging wines of the south—on which, to date, little has been written. From the Sangiovese, or Brunello, of Tuscany, to the Zibibbo, or Alexandrian Muscat, of the island of Pantelleria off the Tunisian coast south of Sicily, this is an authoritative primer on the wealth of Italy’s vineyards and a discerning guide to the regions’ best bottles.
Customer Reviews:
All You Never Knew There Was To Know About The South.......2005-10-04
Be warned: This is not for the casual reader; Belfrage goes into levels of detail heretofore unknown regarding Tuscany, Puglia, Sicily, and the rest of the South. He seems to have visited every producer in Italy, and to have traced (where possible) the origins of every grape he comes across--and he comes across quite a few that you won't find in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Wine or in Jancis Robinson's "Vines, Grapes & WInes." I have a special place in my heart for the unfortunate Nuragus, the most widely planted grape in Sardinia, of which Belfrage says "Nuragus probably has little or nothing to do with Trebbiano Toscano, as the ampelographer Cettolini would have us believe, but it does share an inability to rise above a certain fairly basic level of mediocrity winewise..." If you have to look up "ampelographer," you are probably going to find this book heavy going.
On the other hand, it's not like you need to know to enjoy the book. Belfrage is a good writer, a terrific reporter, and has the added benefit of being honest. He's got some commercial connections in Italy, and he's very straightforward about stating them.
His overall take on the slowness of southern Italy to rally to the cause of quality over quantity is astutely observed: He has no love for Italian Bureaucracy, EU bureaucracy, or the Mafia. All three, he says, conspire to prevent progress.
Anyway, if, like me, you find it is actually important to know that the wide variability in quality in Chianti is as much due to clonal selection as anything else, you'll greatly enjoy Mr. Belfrage's company.
Book Description
How do the public policies of the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom stack up against one another? Comparing Public Policies combines a conceptual discussion of policy-making with an examination of seven specific policy areas using a cross-national perspective. Adolino and Blake strike a balance between policy analysis and description as they provide students with a helpful mix of analytical tools and background information.
The book begins with a concise overview of the policy process and then considers the role of cultural, economic, political, and institutional influences on policy-making. A brief chapter describes the political system of the six countries and provides necessary context. The core of the book is devoted to seven policy areas: immigration, fiscal policy, taxation, health care, social policy, education, and the environment. Each chapter shares a common framework that begins with an introduction to a policy topic, follows with its examination in each country, and concludes with an analysis of cross-national trends-past and present-in policy choices, outcomes, and dynamics. A final chapter re-examines the internationalization of public policy in industrialized countries. Adolino and Blake also consider how policymakers use this comparative perspective to guide them in their policy choices and help them pursue those choices within the political process.
Useful pedagogical features have been incorporated throughout the text. "In Depth" boxes offer students a more detailed discussion of a policy issue, political process, or analytical technique while "Country At-a-Glance" boxes provide quick reference to the political institutions of each country. A wealth of recent data is displayed in numerous tables and a glossary gives students a practical guide to terminology.
Book Description
The Unofficial Guides® are the "Consumer Reports" of travel guides, offering candid evaluations of their destinations' attractions, hotels, restaurants, shopping, nightlife, sports, and more, all rated and ranked by a team of unbiased inspectors so even the most compulsive planners can be sure they're spending their time and money wisely. Each guide addresses the needs of everyone from families to business travelers, with handy charts that demonstrate how each place stacks up against the competition. Plus, all the details are pulled out so they're extremely easy to scan.
Get the unbiased truth on hundreds of hotels, restaurants, attractions, and more in The Unofficial Guide to Central Italy--the resource that helps you save money, save time, and make your trip the best it can be. It includes:
- Information that's candid, critical, and relentlessly objective
- A complete planner to Florence, Rome, and the highlights of Tuscany, Umbria, Latium, and the Marches
- Honest advice that lets you feel safe and comfortable in the heart of Italy--whether you speak Italian or not
- Insider tips on finding the most charming hotels for the best price
- Hundreds of restaurants reviewed and ranked for quality and value
- Tips for saving money and feeling at home with the Euro
- Expert advice on how to get around the region like a local
- The inside story on shopping--where to get the best for less
- Everything you need to know for a worry-free vacation
Book Description
In 1363 the Black Death struck central Italy for the second time, causing a detectable shift in notions of the afterlife and patterns of charitable giving. Throughout Tuscany and Umbria, patricians and peasants alike abandoned their previous practice of dividing bequests into small sums, combining them instead into last gifts to enhance their "fame and glory" and that of their lineages. Illustrative of the new mentality, religious art patronage spread to new social classes, touching even peasants, who sought to be represented "in their very likeness" at the feet of their patron saints. From the supposed center of Renaissance culture--Florence--to the citadel of Franciscan devotion--Assisi--this change in sentiment spurred new levels of demand for monumental burials, testamentary commissions for art, and other efforts to exert control over the living from the grave.
In his award-winning study, Death and Property in Siena, historian Samuel K. Cohn, Jr., used close analysis of last wills to chart transformations in mentalities over a six-hundred-year history. In The Cult of Remembrance and the Black Death, he applies the same methods to compare six Italian city-states--Arezzo, Florence, Perugia, Assisi, Pisa, and Siena--showing the rise of a new Renaissance cult of remembrance. But this new cult was not Burckhardt's Renaissance "individualism" tout court. Instead, the new piety grew in tandem with reverence for the ancestors and a strong sense of family identity that flowed down male blood lines.
Average customer rating:
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The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan (Dumbarton Oaks Studies)
S. Thomas Parker
Manufacturer: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Rome
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Italy
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Archaeology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0884022986 |
Book Description
Until the 1980s, the Roman frontier in modern Jordan was among the least studied of the empire's far-flung border regions. From 1980 until 1989, the Limes Arabicus Project investigated the frontier east of the Dead Sea. Excavation focused on the late Roman legionary fortress of el-Lejjun as well as soundings of four smaller but contemporaneous forts. The project's regional survey recorded over five hundred other archaeological sites in the area, dating from the Paleolithic to the Late Islamic periods. This report presents detailed results from the excavated forts, a broad range of material cultural evidence from animal bones to bedouin burials, and provides a synthesis of the history of this frontier, which witnessed the first confrontation between the Byzantine Empire and the forces of Islam.
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